Susan Gaidos

Contributing Correspondent

Susan Gaidos has been writing about discoveries in areas ranging from biology and neuroscience to physics and technology for more than three decades. Her features, profiles and news stories have appeared in New Scientist, theDallas Morning News, The Scientist, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Bulletin, and Science Careers. She also writes articles on science-related topics for children and is a contributor to Science World and Science News for Kids. She has degrees in journalism and biology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and undertook post-graduate studies in biology at Purdue University while working as a university public information officer. She has received gold and silver awards in medicine and science writing from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, and received the National Institutes of Health's Plain Language Award in 2009 for contributions to the NIGMS publication Computing Life.

Sixty years ago, 27-year-old Henry Molaison underwent an experimental operation in a last-ditch attempt to stop his debilitating epileptic seizures. By removing tissue from each side of Molaison’s brain, the surgeon helped quell the attacks but destroyed his patient’s ability to form new memories.